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Author's Note...
For many years, our family has had a special
place in our hearts for Vietnam Veterans and a
special relationship with our local Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 913 in Branson,
Missouri. For the past sixteen years, my husband
has helped produce a benefit show to raise funds
for them and the causes they support. Multiple
times they have joined us on stage to pay
tribute to veterans in our show.
The VVA 913 honor guard has presented colors at
the annual “Remembering 9-11” ceremony that we
are involved in each year. They are always there
for us when we need help with something that
honors veterans, the military, and the
celebrates the United States of America. They
are a great group of people and we have grown to
love and appreciate them and cherish their
friendship.
Every year as part of the fundraising concert, I
have been asked to recite my poem, “I Am a
Veteran,” but for more than ten years, I have
wanted to write a poem specifically for Vietnam
Vets, and dedicate it to the wonderful folks of
913. I knew it would not be an easy poem to
write, and I pondered it for a very long time,
wondering how to approach it. Just this past
Spring (2019), on the Saturday before this
year’s concert, the inspiration finally came.
The first line of the poem was “given” to me as
the memory of an experience as 10 year old sixth
grader in Veradale, Washington, came to my mind.
I was the “new girl” at Progress Elementary, and
on my first day of sixth grade, in 1970, a
fellow student took me aside and while pointing
to another girl in the class, whispered, almost
reverently, in my ear, “That’s Toni. Her dad is
a prisoner of war.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I remember to
this day how I felt when those words were
spoken. Somehow, even in my innocence, I sensed
their gravity. I later became friends with Toni,
but was too young to understand what she and her
mom and four siblings were going through at the
time. Her mom did her best to keep things as
normal as possible for their family.
Air Force Lt. Col. Raymond Vissotzky returned
home to his family in 1973. He had missed 5 ½
years of seeing his children grow up. I have
never forgotten the Vissotzky family and it is
their story that inspired the beginning of the
poem.
Vietnam 10 14 58 took me the
better part of three days to write. I started it
on Saturday morning and finished it just in time
to recite it at the benefit concert on Monday
night.
This poem is dedicated to The
Raymond and Jo Vissotzky family and VVA Chapter
913 in Branson, Missouri.
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